Penza, 16 April 2018. PenzaNews. 25 residents of Penza and areas of the region participated in the rally "Social march in support of human rights", which was held near the former cinema "Rodina" on Sunday, April 15.

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The symbol of the event was "the black mark" of the authorities which was mentioned by several speakers. Many of the participants came to the event in dark clothes at the suggestion of the organizers.

Some of them were holding black cardboard sheets, flags of the Left Front, Komsomol and the USSR as well as banners reading: "Belozertsev! Start to work instead of promising", "Left Front demands that district administrations should be optimized, the position of the city – eliminated, direct elections of the mayor – returned", "No to Telegram blocking", "Vasily Trokhin is the shame of the Penza government", "Belozertsev, if you are tired, go away!", "Leave the stele Glory to Heroes in Sovetskaya square in peace", etc.

The rally was opened by coordinator of the Left Front in the Volga region Sergei Padalkin. He drew attention of those present to the youth cleaning Krasnaya Gorka opposite the cinema Rodina and said that the choice for a community workday was "quite strange".

The opposition activist reminded that supporters of the movement advocate reformation of self-government suggesting that direct elections of the mayor should be returned, all district administrations in the city should be eliminated leaving only departments for landscaping and utilities, and the position of the Penza head should be renamed chairman of the City Duma.

In addition, in his speech Sergei Padalkin dwelled upon the situation that occurred near Novo-Zapadnoe cemetery, where a large forest area had been cut down lately.

"An entrepreneur widely known in narrow circles, a certain Mr. Borovkov, is going to build three ritual halls there. We ask: what is the need to build three big ritual halls near the Novo-Zapadnoe cemetery, where people are not buried? Does this mean extension of the cemetery?" he asked a question.

In turn, first secretary of the Communist Party Serdobsk area committee Alexander Smirnov drew attention of rally participants to local issues – in particular to flooding of some areas, which occurred last week.

According to him, serious consequences of the flooding in the municipality were the result of inattention of the authorities to the condition of hydraulic facilities on the Serdoba river. As a result, residents suffered significant damage to property.

Civil activists Ruslan Barmakov and Igor Alexeev, speaking to those present, touched upon two topics that drew broad public response, namely the bankruptcy of the stud farm "Zavivalovsky", whose main creditor is JSC Regional Agro-Industrial Holding, and the transfer of the stele Glory to Heroes from Sobornaya square to the public garden Zhuravly (Cranes) located near Prospekt Pobedy street.

"We must do our best to reach civil agreement, to stop having strife, conflicts and arguments. There should be no activists who will not let move the stele chaining themselves to the it," Igor Alexeev noted.

At the end of the protest event in Penza its participants adopted a resolution that is expected to be sent to President of Russia Vladimir Putin, presidential plenipotentiary envoy in the Volga Federal District Mikhail Babich, governor Ivan Belozertsev, and head of the Penza administration Victor Kuvaytsev.

In general, the rally went quiet, none of opposition activists was arrested, but it could not do without an incident.

When the action was over, with the permission of a police officer, coordinator of the regional Left Front department Victor Khomets drove to the building of the former cinema to pick up sound-amplifying equipment. At the exit from the square he was stopped by a traffic police inspector, who drew up an administrative protocol for driving on the sidewalk.